– Yeah… the water is cool today, you're right. But it was necessary to take a dip, especially for you.
"What's that?" the girl stammered and trembled.
– Victoria, honey, I want to wish you a happy birthday, unscheduled, let's call it that. Accept your real name as a gift. Make new documents, this is not a problem, but I'm sorry for things, there was no time to pull out the transmitter. But I can offer you my shirt, it is quite long, and what is especially nice – without a beacon.
The girl cast a quick, wary glance in Gideon's direction. He smiled and continued:
– There is a village a few kilometers away, we will get some clothes for you there, don't worry.
– Cccac TTY Etto sdelal?
"In your order, students are not allowed to learn the technique of moving through space. Although Bartholomew himself and several of his associates possess it perfectly. Here you go!
The guy got out on the Bank and handed the girl his shirt.
– It's warm, you'll warm up quickly. I'd like a hot Cup of tea right now. Sorry I didn't have time to grab the cups and teapot, it would have been very useful.
– Mmmy ctto teleportirovat?
The girl looked around, touched the grass, her hands, her feet. Then quickly threw on a shirt, and calmed down a little, quietly said:
"So that's how it works…
"Not always. There are several techniques for moving. In this case, it was wise to use this one.
***
The sun was beginning to set. A girl in a shirt walked silently across the endless fields, Gideon at her side. His face shone with true joy, and it was evident to the naked eye that this man's heart was in love.
Several times he looked cautiously at the girl in surprise, as if reading an interesting question in her mind, but then quickly turned away and continued on his way as if nothing had happened.
When the girl, once again, by her inner reasoning and the silent murmur of her lips, caused an interesting look from the fellow-traveller, Gideon suddenly said:
– Yeah…, I also love the poems of this poetess.
These words hit the girl like boiling water on the back. She started, and fixed a shrewd glance on her companion.
"Good poems, aren't they?" And the situation has… harmony, " Gideon said.
"So you're also a mind reader?" Who the hell are you?
– These poems, like many others, were written by a beautiful, bright woman.
Victoria, with a look, insisted on her question.
"I introduced myself, Gideon, but that's a narrow view of the world. And in a large-scale sense-your brother. Father we have one – without thinking the guy replied.
– God? the girl quipped.
"That's the one."
"And you believe this nonsense?"
"Which one?"
"That God exists?"
"I can't help believing in him when he's in front of me."..
The girl was slightly taken aback.
"Are you suggesting that I'm a God?"
"And you, too."
"Who else?" You?
– Not only.
"Oh, Yes, and all the other people…
"They are, of course, but they are only a small part of God.
– Wait, you said that we have one father – this is God, and now you say that I am God and you are God. There's a discrepancy in your hypothesis, buddy.
– There is no discrepancy. One does not contradict the other, moreover, it complements it. The only question is that words, of any language – are very trivial in the matter of conveying the truth. Therefore, when transmitting information from the source to the addressee through the word, the picture is often greatly distorted.
– Wiggled. So, okay, let's go on, so we're all just a small part of God? Who are the others? Aliens? Are you saying they're there, too? I've never met one.
"That's not true, you've met a lot of visitors from other constellations and even from neighboring universes in your life. Another question is that they do not seek to give themselves away, so they appear before the earthlings in their usual image.
"Them?" Don't you consider yourself an earth person?
"Let's just say I'm a "man of the world." Don't take it literally, because it won't be quite right. If you, when you say God, mean a bearded old man on one of the clouds-then of course this is fiction and in this case you can say that there is no God. But in fact, there is only an illusion about God, however, that there is an illusion… This is an extensive topic, and we can talk about it some other time. God is all that surrounds us. Everything visible and invisible. The one who created all this, who is all this. The one who manifests himself through all that you can feel, breathe, touch, see, understand, comprehend and create, just like The one you are a part of.
The girl looked at Gideon thoughtfully, then suddenly said:
"So you're saying my real name is Victoria?"
– Yeah.
"How do you know all this?"
"I was once a member of the order of the Black hand, and you know that special people are accepted there.
"I found out about the order not so long ago. I'm not one of the chosen ones you're talking about. I met Bartholomew by chance. I was his for a while… girl.
– A strong old man, I admire his desire to live in all its manifestations.
"Old man?"
– Well, Yes.
The girl frowned.
"Do you know how old he is?" Gideon asked.
I asked several times, but each time he evaded the question. I think he's in his early fifties, but he looks forty-two. I know what you're thinking, I was only thirty-four a week ago, but I was really interested in him. Maybe I even loved him. I don't know why he treated me like this.
"It doesn't take a reason for Bartholomew to send a man to his death, but still, I think you just got too close to him at a certain point and learned more than you should have."
"I found out about the order a few days ago, not from him.
"Well, that's the answer.
"But he doesn't know anything."
"Bartholomew is a very difficult man, Victoria. And, I'll slightly disappoint you, he's not in his early fifties, he's in his early hundreds!
"I don't believe it!"
"One hundred and thirty-seven years, to be exact."
"How can that be?"
– He has many techniques of esoteric knowledge, one of them allows you to slow down the aging process.
"Do you believe that?" Are you saying I slept with a man a hundred years older than me? Yes, this has not been in history, and can not be.
– Mistake. History knows cases of staying in the same body for more than a thousand years. And these people looked about the age of a well-groomed sixty-year-old man, while maintaining all the functions of the body, including sexual. Naturally, twenty-year-old girls and boys are very popular as partners with these representatives.
– Nightmare…
"No, it's just a slight digression. These people do really terrible things in a very different way.
"Do they?" So they are still there?
– Always be… And they will. Knowledge is not lost, it is simply hidden. And this knowledge is a great power. The only question is in whose hands this power is. So far, not in those whose I would like… unfortunately! – graduated from Gideon.
"Who would like to?" Victoria asked.
Gideon didn't answer. They walked in silence for a while. But the girl still showed another curiosity:
– You were so interesting to talk about God, though a little tricky, but just at the same time. I don't know, it seems that the Russian language is considered great and powerful, but still there are not enough words to convey the meaning in its purest form. I understand roughly what you were going to say.
Gideon smiled.
"Speaking of languages," he said. – Three thousand years ago, as before, people on this planet spoke the same language. What is noteworthy is that there was not a single negative word in it, so such an understanding as evil, bad, bad, wrong, dangerous… and so on-so on, no manifestation of ignorance-people simply did not know, of course, that all this on the planet and did not exist. This is a very Mature and well-thought-out language. It originated more than two hundred thousand years ago. Then everything was much simpler and clearer. In the original language, there were no words for the future, because the future, like the past, did not exist, and the word does not exist today. Everything is happening just now. Therefore, there were no problems, for example, with materialization. There was no need to wait for something to manifest in the future, because there is no future, everything is happening now. And people did not forget to show gratitude for the creation. Spoken, materialized, thanked… Everything is simple, everything is honest, everything is naturally beautiful.
After these words, Gideon looked at the highway, which appeared not far away, then looked at the fellow passenger, appreciated her skeptical look and somehow distantly, completely unusual ear said:
– Red evening dress, size forty-two, evening shoes with heels fifteen centimeters, a set of cosmetics from the collection of Milan Rive Gauche second generation.
Victoria looked at her companion, trying to understand what he was saying and why. And I saw in his hand a beautiful red dress, chic shoes and a very attractive suitcase.
Gideon stood with his eyes closed, exuding a feeling of gratitude so strong that it was impossible not to feel it, as well as to describe in words this abundance of sensations not previously known.
Victoria opened her mouth unconsciously.
– This is for you my gift, he said boyfriend gifts girlfriend. – Now there is no need to go to the village in search of things. Put this on. On the road, you will not be missed by any car in this form. The first driver will give you a ride to the city, and for free. Be sure.
"Who are you?" – slightly moving away from shock, said the girl.
"I'm your brother, Victoria, a human.
"Why did you save me?" You knew my intentions, didn't you?
"Your deadline hasn't come yet, and I did what I had to do. For your stuff I'm sorry. I had to sacrifice them.
"It's strange… we were in the middle of nowhere in an instant, but you still have your clothes on, and I don't. Why is that?
"I used the combined teleportation technique.
"How's that?"
– This is when you move yourself, and at the same time you drag someone. That's why I still have my clothes on, but you don't.
"Can I try it on?" Victoria demanded, her eyes unable to detach themselves from the clothes in Gideon's hand.
"Of course it's yours."
The girl accepted the gifts without hesitation, took off her shirt, immediately gave it to the owner and put on a dress, then shoes. The outfit was just right.
"You look great," Gideon said.
"I wish I had a mirror."..
– At home you will appreciate, materialization should not be idle.
Victoria smiled sheepishly. The highway was very close. She knew that the moment of parting was almost upon her. Spend so little time with a stranger, but get so much from him… including life-not a frequent phenomenon. I wanted to give something back. Realizing the act of her Savior, the girl decided to tell the whole truth:
"Bartholomew asked me to seduce you." He said that it was very important for him, that no one could do it until now, and I could easily do it. I didn't have to sleep with you, the main thing was to provide dirt. I really don't know why. Everything was recorded through a beacon and shot on cameras from the agreed points, so I immediately settled on the couch in the field of view. I agreed to this because I like risk, intrigue, and competition. Bartholomew played on this. Sorry…
I still can't believe that he is a hundred-year-old man with esoteric knowledge.
"One hundred and thirty-seven isn't a big number, but I know you don't like to know that."
"Tell me about those who have lived in the same body for a thousand years."
– There's nothing very interesting about it. Well, people live a little longer than everyone else…
"A little longer?" This is not seventy years, nor ninety! A thousand, I'm sorry…
"There are more, but that's not the point. What matters is not how long you live, but how you live and for what.
"Yes…
– People who live for centuries and millennia in the same body are usually representatives of the heads of families, there are not many of them. Those that mere mortals can't reach. Much more correctly in this way do those who practice conscious reincarnation. Changing the body, the place of residence, parents, relatives, friends… the whole history of man… All ends are entered, as they say. A person dies, a new person is born. No one knows him, but he knows everyone.
– Abruptly… You know them?
– Know… Gideon said thoughtfully…
They came to the highway.
– Here and we'll part, – quietly and very respectfully sounded voice guy.
"We won't meet again?"
"The ways of the Lord are inscrutable, so… who knows…
"You know! Now I don't even doubt it.
Gideon only smiled and nodded in the direction of the road from which the car was approaching. The girl looked in the direction indicated, nodded in agreement with the sadness of the inevitable parting in her eyes, but when she turned back, she found herself standing alone on the highway. There was no one around in the area of visibility that stretched for many kilometers, only a bright yellow car was racing in the distance, which gradually slowed down as it approached the shapely silhouette of a girl in a bright red dress.
***
– What is happening now in the Keel nebula, such processes are issued by the "Blue Dwarf", shines as never before.
"Yes," said Tikhon, pouring out a second Cup of tea, " I often see it in the southern sky." It really shines beyond the limit.
Isaiah looked at the other man with an admiring gaze, took a SIP, then said, leaning back on the sofa.
"I can't stop admiring your choice, Tikhon. And you picked a very good place. Nowhere is the development of life and honor more evident at the present moment than on Earth.
– Yes, I did not lose the choice of place.
"I've watched you make your choice several times. It is easy to reason outside the system, and very entertaining to watch, but only outside the system. When you are inside it, "life" very often outweighs all that we really are. I was very aware of this when I was in human form. This is not only observed on Earth.
"I remember it from the Phaeton.
"It was a beautiful planet. But it was in the same solar system, and I'm talking about others, those in other galaxies. Where three or four suns give life to their planets, where there is no sun at all.
"I've heard of places like this, maybe I'll visit again."
– At your current level of consciousness, you can do it right now.
"I can, but I won't."
"I knew you'd say that." I'll take another wheel?
"At least two!"
Isaiah helped himself. They were silent for a while.
– Blows of fate… how accurately you managed to translate them into music. People can hear you… Isaiah said amiably again.
Drummers – this is a special creators. Very few people know what is really behind each stroke of the master's wands.
"You're right, it's only a few people. At least it was before you.
"I bring to this world not only certain vibrations, but also feelings.
"I can hear you far beyond Earth, believe me.
– Believe.
"Or do I know?"
"One doesn't interfere with the other."
– Rather… Your rhythms excite not only people, I often hear discussions among "their" on your account.
– Well, I hope this is a positive discussion? At least for the most part?
– What's positive for you?
"I sometimes forget who I'm talking to.".. you're right. The fact that my rhythms deserve the attention of the "brothers" is already a great thing.
"What you do is a great thing in itself, and the way you do it is admirable. I admit I'm one of your fans.
– Unless the observer does not have to be neutral?
– I'm in a human body now, so let's put my sympathy down to production costs.
– You can write off a lot of things.
Isaiah smiled. Tikhon smiled back, then leaned back on the sofa and asked:
"You didn't come just to sing my praises, did you?"
– Naturally. You do your job, I do mine.
– What did the observer see in my actions that requires correction?
– I wouldn't call it that fundamentally…
"And yet?"
"I wouldn't recommend that you leave town right now."
– Is my project flawed in some way?
– The scheme is very precisely verified, there are no questions about it, the matter is different.
– Bartholomew?
– Yeah.
– He has already settled in this place for a long time, is it worth making adjustments because of him?
"This time, Yes.
– Is it activated?
Isaiah threw up his hands.
"Really?"
Isai nodded.
Well, finally. The signal is received. Thank you, Isaiah. Always happy to see you. Okay, so we'll play the fork again.
"Maybe more than once," Isaiah corrected.
"Maybe more than once.".. Tikhon agreed with a glint in his eyes, the light of which Isaiah noted as a novelty.
Still, after all, such a glow in the eyes of Earthlings he had not seen before, and civilizations for which such a light is the norm, are tens of thousands of light years from Earth…
***
– Hello, Teacher, – with these words to Bartholomew entered one of his confidants, Tao.
"How did it go?"
– At first everything went according to plan, the girl quite simply got into the house and got down to business. I chose a good location, the cameras recorded everything. But at a certain point, something happened. When it became obvious that Gideon had solved our puzzle, I gave the go-ahead to the automatons.
Bartholomew listened intently, looking intently into Tao's eyes.
– The RIOT police know their business, which is why I connected the Colonel to this issue. They riddled the house, leaving no chance of escape.
"I know that Gideon is still alive, and I can feel him, and he is somewhere near. Stop beating around the Bush, why hasn't the task been completed? the Abbot said sternly, but with restraint.
Tao put the briefcase he had been holding on the table, opened it, and took out the girl's belongings.
– This is all that's left of Tatiana. It was as if Gideon didn't exist at all. Here are the recordings from the beacon and the video recording.
"To hell with this mischief, you know that the so-called dirt was just an excuse to get the girl to act and distract the target."
"That's right," Tao agreed, " but a curious thing has come to light. There is no video recording, not a single frame in which Gideon was caught. And the recording from the beacon during listening showed only the girl's voice, although we clearly heard his voice at the time of recording and understood everything that happened there before the attack.
"All right, leave the material here, and you can go."
"Will there be any new instructions, Master?"
– And the point is to give them to you if they are not fulfilled…
Tao lowered his head guiltily.
"I'll call you later." Stop!
The assistant paused in the doorway.
Analyst: where's he going? He met Tikhon, didn't he?
– Met. Now decides the consequences of the meeting.
The Abbot chuckled:
"Did our firstborn give him a hard time?"
– I melted the car into two parts. It was a new car. Well, I went to choose a new one.
– Clearly. Call him, let him look in tomorrow, have a conversation.
"All Right, Teacher.
The man went out, and Bartholomew went to the case and took the girl's blouse and held it to his nose. He sniffed something for a long time, then put it back and said:
"So he dragged you.".. It turns out that the girl is alive, and now she knows everything about me… Offensively…
The Abbot activated the recording from the listening device. There was no interference at the time of Gideon's remarks, so no silencing devices were used.
"You've learned a lot, kid… A lot of things, "Bartholomew whispered in exasperation," but I didn't sleep either.
He took a couple of steps away from the briefcase with things and notes, snapped his fingers, and in a moment everything that Tao had brought was scattered on the table in a pile of dust.
***
After Tikhon sent his greetings to Bartholomew, Vahe visited several car dealerships, looked after a new car, and while managers were preparing documents for the deal, he decided to remember his youth.
– How long will it take to process the documents? he asked the girl with the badge.
"About twenty minutes." We'll do it, and you can have a Cup of coffee in the second-floor canteen. As soon as everything is ready, I will come to you.
"Thank you, I'll be gone for about thirty minutes, don't waste it." Can I pay now?
– No, no, after all the formalities are signed.
– Nicely.
Vahe left the car dealership and went straight to the bus stop. In an expensive suit, a watch for several thousand dollars, the scent of a chic perfume from a limited series of the brand known in narrow circles, he immediately attracted the attention of fellow travelers waiting for transport. Envious and uncomprehending glances surrounded Vahe, but this did not bother him in the least.
A small commercial bus appeared at the turn.
"Seventy-six," he said to himself, marking the route number as a landmark, since it was in 1976 that he came under the influence of Bartholomew, received the knowledge, the necessary experience, and then the opportunities.
There wasn't a lot of free space on the bus, but Vahe squeezed in and even crawled into the middle of it.
– For travel, we pass who entered! – tired smoky voice made itself felt conductor.
The bus started. The newly entered passengers struggled to reach their pockets to count their fare.
"They came in again!" the conductor said in a nasty, insistent voice, fixing a mocking, gloating look in Vaga's eyes.
– Can I get two stops for free? I didn't take the money, " Vahe answered the conductor's gaze, clumsily holding on to the rail, completely forgetting how to ride public transport.
"No, you can't! Forgot money-go on foot, – savoring the benefit of the situation, the lady minted, and, turning to the driver, asked, – Dim, stop, you need to drop off one.
The driver pulled over to the curb and opened the door.
– Well, quickly, do not delay! the conductor was rude.
Vahe didn't move or even look at her.
– Man, I'm talking to you! Skip the "hare" in costume! the lady persisted.
The passengers began to smile. Vahe's lips also stretched into a smile, but it was not a kind one.
"What's going on right now?" You can't even take a stop? "what is it?" he asked slyly.
"No, we won't. The rules are written for everyone. Faster, do not delay, ' replied the lady, raising herself up, standing from his broken seat.
The crowd parted, and Vahe went to the exit, but stopped in front of the conductor and looked her in the eyes with a peculiar intensity.
The woman's face changed, lost its fighting spirit. The conductor sat back in her seat, collected all the change money from the tray, threw off the belt bag with the cash, and silently gave it all to Vaga. He took the generous gift for granted, and got off the bus. The driver, who was watching the situation out of the corner of his eye, did not appreciate this charitable gesture.
– E…– and, leaving the driver's seat, rushed to catch up with Vahe, who went in the opposite direction of the route in the direction of the stop, where he got into the transport. To the surprise of the passengers, he wasn't in too much of a hurry, as anyone would have done. The driver caught up with Vahe a few seconds later, grabbed him by the shoulder, but when he turned and met his eyes, the driver behaved no less strange than the conductor. Instead of taking the money, he took out more of his personal ones from his pocket and also gave them to the stranger, after which he apologized for the incident, wished him a happy journey, returned to his seat, and continued the route.
The passengers looked at each other in silence, not understanding what had happened, but no one commented on the situation.
"I can still!" "that's enough," Vahe said, shoving the money into his pockets, then went back to the dealership and left in a shiny new sedan.
***